07/16/2023
This morning I read of God's provision and gifts to us. I am strengthening myself in the understanding that He is always there, always good, and always hears and answers my prayers. My confidence in these facts forms the basis for my expectation in Him and relieves me of doubt and worry.
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Matthew 7:11 ESV
I stood at the bedside of an elderly family member who was unresponsive and prayed for them. First I prayed for their salvation, then their comfort, and finally, if it be God's will, that He give them back to us. I had then, and continue to have now, the utmost in confidence that God heard those prayers, and answered them. I couldn't see what was going on inside this loved one's mind in regard to salvation, but I believe they were given that choice and that the Holy Spirit led them to a renewed profession of faith. I watched as they suffered for three more days and although I was saddened by their suffering, I was sure that it was necessary and that it served a purpose... perhaps to give time to their soul as it sought perfection before God. Then finally, when they died to this world, I knew it was God's will and perfect timing for this life.
Some of you are probably asking yourselves how I could know this, and think me foolish for believing that God heard my prayer, but I can assure you that He did. When we are standing by the bedside of someone we love, while they are suffering, and we want desperately for them to remain with us, it is easy to think that God doesn't hear us, or that we are foolish for placing our confidence in the spiritual. However, He does, and His spirit is with us always. He also hears the prayers of the person who is suffering before us.
“However, God has listened; he has paid attention to the sound of my prayer. Blessed be God! He has not turned away my prayer or turned his faithful love from me.”
Psalm 66:19-20 CSB
On another occasion, my mother-in-law was taken to the hospital in an unresponsive state. She had been suffering with dementia for some time and hadn't known her family when they visited. When I arrived in her hospital room, I greeted my wife, and my brothers in law. The atmosphere was filled with sadness and we feared that this was the beginning of her final days. They walked into the hallway to talk, so as not to disturb her, and I found myself alone with her as she lay breathing shallow breaths in what we would call a coma. I went to her bedside and lovingly placed one hand on her forehead and took her hand with my other, and began to pray silently for her. I prayed that God would remove her suffering, that he would lift her from the throws of death if it be His will, and I prayed for her soul and salvation. I knew this woman to be a saint, so my confidence was high... then something amazing happened...
As I finished praying, I gently removed my hands from her, and without a break in her breathing, or opening her eyes, she said aloud... "Thank You." Up until that moment she had been totally unresponsive. I hadn't prayed aloud, but I had felt the presence of the Lord as I spoke on her behalf. What I believe, and I want to convey to you, is that there were at least three people who heard my unspoken prayer that day... God, me, and my mother-in-law. Never doubt that God hears your prayers... even when we don't hear His answer as I did. John wrote about this too...
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”
1 John 5:13-14 ESV
So even when we are in the midst of a threatening situation and quickly utter a prayer, we should know with absolute confidence that He is there, and we should rest assured that He has heard us. Let the utterance of a comatose woman of faith, with severe dementia, speak to you as it spoke to me... God is here with us! Then have total confidence that at that moment in our life, His will for us will manifest itself.
“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:8 CSB
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your constant presence, and for answering our prayers. I thank you for the reassurance of scripture, and the everyday events of our lives, that give testament to you and the fulfillment of your promise to us. Help me to give my troubles completely to you in prayer, and to find peace in the fact that they are in your hands. Holy Father, lead me to the bedside of the dying that I might pray with them and give them reassurance as they prepare to meet you. Never let me doubt that my prayers on behalf of others are heard by you, and even by the very soul of the person for whom I pray. Let my intercession comfort them, and accompany your hand as it reaches to touch them. In this way let my faith be strengthened in so doing. Father I praise your name for the goodness and mercy you show us each day, and my soul shouts out in thanksgiving prayer… "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty."
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop,[a] saying,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God, the Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is to come.”
Revelation 4:8 CSB
“This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.”
1 John 5: 14-15 CSB
Rich Forbes